The Sleeping Wolf, 1891, Oil on canvas on plywood, 15 5/16 x 25 ¼” (38.9 x 64.2cm), Ernest Thompson Seton (1860-1946), British, Naturalized U.S. Citizen, 1931, ALL#4044
Seton painted this work during one of his sojourns in Paris. The obliging model lived at the Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes and was in the habit of taking a sunlit nap in the same spot on a regular basis. Painting the work took a full month at several hours per day. Everything we might consider noble and beautiful about a wild animal comes across through this painting. The setting is so tranquil that we feel as if we have come upon this animal is a state of total peace in a remote woodland. The illumination surrounding the wolf makes us believe that nature has created a light just for just this moment.
More on Seton’s life in Paris. Credit Line: Academy for the Love of Learning, Santa Fe, New Mexico. All rights reserved. Reproduction permission.